SPOKANE, Wash. – Defending Northwest Conference lacrosse champion George Fox took control in the second half and pulled away to defeat Whitworth 18-9 in the league opener for both teams on Saturday afternoon at the Whitworth Pine Bowl.

The Bruins improved to 5-4 overall while the Pirates dropped to 3-4.  Whitworth will try to claim its first NWC win of the season when the Bucs host Pacific on Sunday.

Whitworth took its only lead of the match at 2-1 on goals by Sierra Witte and Megan Whitman only ten seconds apart just under two minutes into the match.  GFU tied it with a goal by Megan Maxfield, then took the lead late in the quarter on a goal by Ava Bluhm while playing a player down.

Merrick Gibson scored for the Bruins early in the second before Kenzie Hemman pulled the Pirates within 4-3 less than a minute later.  That is as close as Whitworth would get the rest of the way.  Trailing 7-3, the Bucs got within 7-5 on back-to-back goals from Hemman and Witte, but GFU led 9-6 at halftime.

Lana Davis scored for the Bruins to start the third and Nikki Beers answered to keep the Bucs within three goals.  George Fox outscored Whitworth 4-1 over the rest of the period, including another from Davis.  Beers scored her second of the period for the Bucs.

Leading 14-8 heading into the fourth, the Bruins outscored the Pirates 4-1 to put the match away.  Sasha Thayer had three of the goals for GFU.  Witte scored again for Whitworth.

Davis scored five goals and Bluhm had four for the Bruins.  Thayer had three goals and two assists, while Maxfield finished with two goals and three assists.  Mya Pack had seven saves while allowing nine goals as the George Fox goalkeeper.

Witte led Whitworth with three goals, while Beers and Hemman had two apiece.  Hemman added six draw controls, three caused turnovers and two ground balls.

Sage Fosnock played 45 minutes in net for Whitworth and made seven saves while allowing 13 goals.  Kayla Jones tended net in the third quarter and had four saves while giving up five goals.